Mexican Food, Candyland, and The Shining

      
        On Friday night, I got together with my very good friend, Adele.  We had enchiladas and chimichangas for dinner.  Plus, we were waited on by the funniest, most energetic waiter.  After that we got coffee at a cozy, little local coffeehouse. (Can you see the heart shape in the coffee foam or is it just me?)  While we were there we were approached by a young girl, Abby, who wanted to play Candyland with us.  We obliged.  Later the owner of the coffeehouse told us her mom works all the time and her dad has four other kids to watch along with her. :-(  Eventually, our new young friend had to leave and we decided to rent a scary movie.  We went home with....

The Shining

A classic!  Directed by Stanley Kubrick and based off the novel by Stephen King, this is one of pop culture's favorite horror films and rightly so.  Adele and I had both seen it before, but afterwards we were still left with some questions (don't read any further if you haven't seen it!)

...true meaning behind the picture at the end?  how did being a part of this movie psychologically affect the child actor playing the son?  was the butler the Grady who killed his family?  if the cook knew Danny (son) had "the shining" why didn't he say anything?  how much of the happenings were Jack's psychological troubles and how much can be attributed to ghosts?

We did some hardcore research and found that basically everyone has their own opinion on The Shining.  Since the movie isn't clear-cut in some parts, it becomes subjective to the viewer.  However, here are some fun finds for you:

Danny Lloyd who played Danny Torrence went on to become a science teacher in the midwest.  He's 38 now!  As for any psychological trauma, apparently Kubrick, the director, went out of his way to ensure the Danny did NOT know the nature of the film.  (This raises a few more questions, but we won't get into that.)  It was only until much later in life that he became aware it was a horror film.

"You've always been the caretaker."

That confusing bathroom scene with Delbert/Charles Grady?  After sifting through numerous philosophies on the film, Adele and I liked the reincarnation theory the best.  That is, Delbert Grady was the butler in the 1920s and Charles was the caretaker in the 1970s.  Mr. Torrence (as Delbert refers to Jack) was the original owner of the hotel and Jack Torrence is now the caretaker.  The reincarnation theory gives insight into Jack's strong loyalty to the hotel and also explains the picture at the very end. 

In supporting the reincarnation theory, pay attention to where Jack is standing.  If he were the caretaker, he probably wouldn't have been in front.  Standing in the front indicates some former position of power significance.  Aside from the reincarnation theory, some believe this photo symbolizes Jack's assimilation into the hotel's group of ghosts.

 

*"The Shining" pictures taken from Google images

**movie information gathered from imdb, youtube, and other various sites